West side farmland joins Columbus after annexation

A large agricultural property on the west side of Columbus will now be part of the city after the annexation was approved last night by Columbus City Council.

The farmland between Interstate 65 and State Road 11, south of Jonathan Moore Pike is owned by Columbus Regional Health and eventual plans include a new hospital along with residential neighborhoods, commercial centers, and a research & development campus.

In addition to the annexation, the council also accepted a fiscal plan for the costs to the city of the property annexation. In the near term, the land will remain agricultural and will have little impact. But the fiscal plan outlined future expenses such as providing staff and equipment for the new parks, police and fire protection, street maintenance along with trash, yard waste and recycling collections.

Although the entire property is nearly 700 acres, Jeff Bergman, planning director for the city, said that the actual developable land is much less than that. About half of the property in the flood plain and about 100 acres is being set aside for the future CRH campus. After taking out 30 acres for park space, the city will be looking at about 250 acres that will actually be available for new residences.

He said that compared to similar sized developments such as Shadow Creek Farms off of County Road 200S and the Arbor Homes development off of Lowell Road.